Family

I kissed him gently on the forehead, looked into his vacant blue eyes and said “Goodbye, Papa. I love you.” I’ve no idea whether he heard me or not. That was the last time I saw my father alive. He was pumped full of morphine to ease his passing. Rewind 5 days: It’s the end of May 2017, and I have just flown in from Manchester, UK to be with my father at the Helios Klinikum in Schleswig, Germany. The doctor I had spoken to the day before had urged me to be at my father’s bedside. “It’s not looking good. The second round ofRead More →

It’s three in the morning and I just got home from the hospital. I’m crying in the shower for at least the third time this week. I’m tired, I have to get up for work in three hours, and I know I’m not going to be in any condition to give the presentation I’m supposed to give, but that’s not why I’m crying. I’m crying because it’s just that heartbreaking to be the sister of someone so severely mentally ill that they can’t see their own affliction. Because I see the waste of what his life could have been. Because every day I’m reminded thatRead More →